good morning. i'm chris jansing. something big developing now. in 15 minutes the president will make a statement from the white house focusing on jobs and the economy, and he might take questions from reports. it comes on the heels of a difficult week for his presidential campaign. nbc's mike viqueira at the white house for us this morning. good morning. what are we going to hear, and why now? >> reporter: it's interesting, for months west wing officials and campaign officials said, they warned this is going to be a close election, closer than democratic big shots and fund-raisers and politicos had been predicting all along. over the last couple of days we've had evidence this is a tight election, and the president's going to step into a briefing room now among heightening concern among democrats. he's going to making a statement, it's not a full-fledged press conference, as you reported, chris. he may be taking questions after it. he's echoing many themes he's been hitting in his message events and his campaign events across the country, his to-do list he wants congress to get off the mark.

that list led by jobs for veterans, interest spending, a bill stuck in congress, hitting that theme. if does come to questions there are a host coming from reporters, the white house, own up to the president are known to be very concerned about the economic situation in europe, what's happening there with the uncertainty about greece, increasingly spain, italy, ireland as well. the fund-raising numbers, of course we've been reporting, mitt romney outraising the president and democrats by some $16 million in may. na fiscal cliff that the nation is heading for at the end of the year with the draconian spending cuts, that sequestration from the debt deal as well as expiring tax cuts from the bush administration, all this uncertainty, the president's stepping into the briefing troom address some of that in 15 minutes. >> as far as you know, nothing new? this is hitting the familiar themes we've heard, calling on congress to take action, being specific about what bills are out there? >> reporter: yeah. as far as we know it's not a stop the presses moment but we'll wait and see.

maybe they are holding their cards close to their vest there's. >> let me bring in chris matthews who is host of "hardball." good morning, from where you're sitting what is going on here? >> well, it was a very tough week, as vic pointed out. an unemployment rate that's going up. if it continues to go up, obama will probably lose the election, and that's a fact. so he's got to hope the unemployment number doesn't keep rising. it's 8.2. it was 8.1 the month before in april. very bad news about the first quarter. growth of less than 2%. who would have believed this economy would be growing at less than 2% this year? this is really tough -- a tough track for the president to win on because most of the time the american people choose a president when they have to have a second-term choice on how's he doing? they judge him as a referendum, like a baseball manager decides whether to keep a pitcher on the monday or not or to go to the bull pen. they don't focus on whether the

guy in the bull pen's throwing harder than the guy throwing on the mound. the guy on the mound, leaving too many men on, count going too long with the batters, is it getting scary any moment there can be a rally that really kills the team. it's treacherous territory for the president right now. if it begins to look like he's losing control of the economy, he can blame it on w., the previous president, blame tonight europe, but the american people look to him as the accountable guy, where the buck stops with him. so it's very tough right now. a lot of the obama team has been focuses on tactic the last several months trying to distract the american people from the question, is this a referendum or not. a chose election, a focus on foreign policy and defense where the president's strong. normally the true north to go back as a voter and say how's this guy doing? should we keep him on the mound or try somebody else? that's the choice people normally make. romney loves it that way. and he will always try to bring it back to that. is this guy getting the other

team out or not? so the president has a chance today to grab control of the game and talk about what he's doing. >> let's me ask you about that, chris. it seems he's going to have the same message, from what we know in a different form. he's hitting themes again and again on the campaign trail. now he's got the seal of the white house behind him, the presidential seal on the podium. is that a missed opportunity? should he be coming out with some new proposal? >> i think so but we're critic, we're just commentators and news analysts and news people. what he has to do on the inside look at numbers in and the economy and what can he get done or bring to congress that he thinks should be done. i think he has do to more salesmanship of what it's done, how it's worked and what it's taught us. he did the -- you can see it in the job creation, he did deal with the health care system which was broken when he came in. he did face the financial crisis

which was really scary when he came in, and it's not scary now at all. we're having a tough time now, we're not having a scary time now. but he doesn't sell. i think what he has to do, if you asked me the question is, he has to come out with a plan to put a lot of people to work now, the clearly -- he's done so far it's not enough. we haven't done enough. he has to do something to change the growth rate so that we're creating jobs more than we are right now. 69,000 jobs in may is not enough. he's got to create more, just say that, and he can propose a big spending -- a big road construction program, infrastructure. everybody knows it would be a good idea except the republicans. so i would, if i were him, jam it at them. i'm going to raise the ante here. we need to do a lot more. this economy's weak, more needs to do be done, let's do it like we did with the stimulus, do it more. i don't think he's going to do that. i think he's going to go back, chris, to answer your question, perhaps reframing, remarketing, if you, what he did left september.

$400 billion program, which is payroll tax cuts, some of it, about a third of it, is actual construction. so about a third of that 400 is actual construction projects. it's not that big time in an economy which we have to keep reminding ourselves, is over $15 trillion. so what's 100 billion or $200 billion going to do to $15 trillion economy? everybody knows, not much. if i were him, i'd take a big program to congress, have them say no with a big loud big, not a small proposal followed by a small, quiet no. it's not working politically. >> chris, hang in there. i want to bring in congresswoman donna edwards, democrat from maryland. good morning. >> good morning. >> what do you think the american people want to hear from the president this morning? >> well i think they want to hear at least to follow chris' metaphor, if the president's on the pitcher's mound, republicans and congress are on the field and out in the field, and they are making errors.

the president sent to us a jobs bill in sent and we haven't done anything on it. we should be investing in our transportation and infrastructure to create millions of jobs and republicans have been sitting on their hands because they want the president to fail. the fact is that even in this tough economy, the president has created 4.3 million jobs over the course of the last 27 months. now, is it enough? we know it's not enough. the president has said that. but republicans in congress need to get the message and they need to get over here, stop taking breaks, stop taking recess, stop going on vacation, and give the president a jobs bill so we can get americans back to work again. >> i guess the question is, is it enough to criticize congress? let me read to you from what eleanor cliff wrote today to chris' point in "the daily beast." the worry among democrats the obama team is focuses on disparaging mitt romney they haven't laid out in a clear and compelling way what obama would do in the second term. if all romney has to say is, i'll do better, romney will

lose, says sam popkin professor of political silence at university of california, san diego. so i suppose the question becomes, is it enough to say congress, get off your duffs and get something done, or does he have to put something out there or a way ford? >> they're holding the bag. they're holding the bag on a major highway transportation bill that if we got that to the president today to sign off on, investing in mass transit, rebuilding roads and our bridges, that would put millions of people back to work. and republicans have the key to do that. they're the ones holding the bag. i think it's appropriate for the president to say that he's called on us to pass a real jobs bill. he's called on us to make sure we're not extending tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and oil and gas companies those are things that congress needs to do things that republicans need to do in the congress and we need to stop taking vacations and get the job done. >> well, how -- what are the chances you think any of those things you mentioned are going

to get done before november? >> well, let's look here. student loan rates double on july 1st. also on -- at the end of the year tax breaks expire for middle income americans. we don't have a choice. we have to get this done, and the longer that republicans sit on their hands here in this congress, the american people need to blame republicans and congress for trying to make sure, one, that the president fails, but worse than that, they're trying to ensure that the american people fail, and it's outrageous. and i think that all across the country the president is saking a message to them that says we want to create jobs but we need a partner in the united states house of representatives and partners in the senate on the republican side to get it done. >> congresswoman donna edwards, thank you very much. all of this isn't happening in a vacuum. vic mentioned this, all happening after yesterday's news that obscene amounts of money are being thrown at the presidential race. after the final figures came out for may the obama campaign immediately sent out the message, we got beat.

romney and the rnc pulling in a whopping $76.8 million in may, that's more than the huge month for the obama and dnc campaign. $60 million. >> there's way too much money flowing into all of those races right now. >> should we be proud of this that it takes a billion dollars to run for president? >> those major donors come back home. >> the hedge fund crowd is resad. they have had their feelings hurt. and so they are no longer giving to the president. >> that's crazy. that's good stimulus money right there. that's job making money there. >> it's not really surprising that the republicans were able to pull down a lot of low-hanging fruit. >> steve olmendorf, tony fratto. good morning. tony, led me read you a quote from the associated press that

sums up feelings of a lot of people. quote, motivated by the terror of being outspent, the two candidates are locked in an ever-escalating game of financial one-upmanship. is the race out of control? >> i don't think so. i've been involved in national politics for more than 20 years. i don't remember an election psyching where i didn't hear the questions about money and was it too much money and are people happy -- if you ask people, are you happy or unhappy about the amount of money spent on political campaigns the answer's consistently no. it's always no. they're never happy about money in politics but we live in society where it costs money get your message out through the airwaves, mail, digitally. >> we never had this kind of money. there's a fascinating quote. look at 2004 campaign people went crazy howard dean raised $15 million in 3 months. barack obama raised that in one

day at george clooney's. >> that's right. i'm not saying that he's aren't very large amounts of money and sometimes i'd love to see the money spent on other things like the causes that i advocate for. but this -- a presidential election is an important thing. people have views, they want to express it and they have to express it with money. you need to use the airwaves to do that, and it costs money. that's the reality of it. and we could say that we've broken records every single year because we do. it's always going to be more expensive. >> steve, you've been in the room, too. let me ask you about it, this was something the democrats didn't expect and it's happened before, it's happened with john kerry. once you get the nominee and people who have been hanging back start to write the checks, but is there a sense, do you think in both of these campaigns in their war rooms that there is no sense that there's a limit? i mean, i guess the question becomes, how many ads can you run? how many field offices can you

open? in november, since april 11th, it's estimated there have been 6,000 ads in the las vegas market. 6,000 since april 11th. >> yeah. i think you overtalk about this. look at the end of the day i think both sides are going to spend $1 billion between the various entities involved. yes, i think it's too much but i don't think we have time to complain about it. as democrats we've got to see it's a close election and get off our duff and raise as much money as republicans are doing. it's going to to be a choice election and we have to show people what that choice and raise a lot of money to do it. >> chris, let's me bring you back in. do you think either of the campaigns -- a lot of times when looking at this period that's moving up into what people start to pay attention, which is the conventions and of course in october and november, this is sort of maybe trying to things out or you know getting things going? does either campaign really have a focus message yet?

>> you know, is it early in the season and they used to say in baseball, the games you win in the spring you don't have to win in september because you and i have learned, watching baseball, that's not the way it works. you got to win in october to have a winning streak going into november. and whether it's the world series or the presidential election people know how you're doing when they pay attention and that's the fall. i believe that's when people will make up their minds. we'll have an unemployment, by the way, chris, last weekend of the election campaign. that october number will come in friday before the election. the weekend we'll be talking about the number if it's in 8s, we'll see. if it's above 8.5, forget for obama. in it's 7s people will be saying this guy's making progress. i think it's an election fought near the end. by the way, nobody's ever won an election by complaining about the other side outspending them. >> that's right. >> ever. nobody cares. most people watching the show do not give the political campaigns they doesn't understand why a person would give hal a million

dollars. by the way, why should they? by the way, our company that owns us, the -- you know the big companies, they spend a billion dollars all the time. gm, ge, ul spendiall pending a n advertising. the numbers are the same numbers we see for any commercial product. it's the only way to reach people, saturate them and that's why -- companies like coca-cola, jack kennedy would say everybody knows there's coca-cola, everybody on the planet knows it's exist. the reason to advertise keep reminding people and keep your market share. keep competing with the other side that's also doing it. >> barring a big swing one way or another, do you agree with chris, say the unemployment rate is 8.5 or higher as opposed to 8 or somewhere in the 7s, does it hang on that, or is it ultimately because the economy's not going to recover by

november. everything's not going to be wine and roses by then or is it about who's convinced the american people i can do the better job going forward? >> i think it really is, i think it's a choice election i think it's a referendum election. if we're talking about unemployment rate in the 8s, talking about the mid 8s, it really is a referendum election that the direction is the wrong direction for the president and it certainly will be a referendum on him. i think chris matthews, to stick with chris' baseball analogy, we get to the bottom of the ninth innings, we're looking at unemployment rates that are in the mid 8s and printed, it just gets really hard for the president to come out and have traction that his policies have been successful. >> i'm trying to come up with a triple crown analogy, given the weekend but i'm not having any luck with that. steve -- >> nobody's winning the triple crown this year in politics. >> steve, let me go to you. what can the president do today?

what do you want to hear from him today if what helps him today? >> i think president's got to do two things. one, he's got to talk about what he's trying to do for roast the year and what congress is not doing and how hard he's working to get things done and, second, he's got to start talking about what he's going to do in the second term, how the economy's gotten better but not good enough and he's going to work to make it better and the choice between who can manage the economy between him and the or guy is a clear choice. >> well the hope and change thing, chris, obviously, was looking forward. is there a way for president obama to make this more forward looking than backward looking? >> yeah i think he has to say that one thing we've learned over last 100 years about managing the economy is this, when business fails, as has failed in the last ten years, it's failed, the private sector fell apart under president george w. bush, it's a fact, the financial market fell down, auto industry was dead on arrival, everything has failed, the government has to act. when the consumers is uncertain and business is scared

government has to act, which it did when obama came in and hadn't done before that. he came in, took action, saves the auto industry, brought back the american economy with a big stimulus plan, he took a lot of heat for it. if the government hadn't acted nobody would have acted even to this day business is afraid consumer's holding on to his or her money, nobody's got the guts to spend money except the government. he's got to say we have to keep shouldering the responsibility to keep the economy roaring until everybody's back. he's got to say we've done the right thing we've have to do more. if republicans would get out of the way we would do more. he's got to be aggressive. stop this nickel and dime a couple bucks for the teachers, a couple bucks for the firefights, i'm going to reduce the payroll tax. this is -- you can't get re-elected with tactics. he needs a strategy which is we're different than the republicans, they're basically free marketers who sit around and wait for business to deliver this country from helel and

business has let us down. >> chris -- >> just say it. >> the american people understand they want the private sector to take the lead in the economy for the long run. >> it has failed. it has failed and it keeps failing. private sector is sitting on $2 trillion right now. doesn't want to spend because it doesn't want this guy to look good, it doesn't want him re-elected. >> i don't think that's the reason. >> yes. also they're afraid -- >> the private sector will spend money if they get a return. >> here's the idiot republican argument. if you've got a bigger tax cut than bush gave them -- >> that's not what i'm saying. i'm not talking about tax cuts. i'm not talking about regulation. i'm talking about just business as the world exists today if you're a business man out there, you've got money you're holding you're going to invest it if you think you can get a return on investment, that's all. >> you're invest it in campaigns against the president. running ads by the billions of dollars. what are you talking about? we talked about it a second ago. who is giving to the

republicans? it's the business guys. >> you're telling voters the economy three years -- not even three years into the president's temple, three years after the recovery began, the only -- >> what recovery? there's only an obama recovery. >> to keep the economy going by more government spending. i'm asking you, is that an -- >> investment. have you been to europe lately? have you been to asia in have you seen how they have -- >> i have, actually. >> trains that go 300 miles an hour. >> there's another interesting argument, tony, i hate to leave steve out of this. it's made in none other than the washington times and the argument is this, the argument is that, while there are record profits for corporations, sitting on $2 trillion in corporate profits, the wages for the average earner have gone up 1.4%. wages have really not kept up with the earnings for past --

we're 45 years behind. this is from the "washington times" and argument is, if they're not investing, they're not hiring and freezing wages and they're fighting against increase in the minimum wage, people don't feel comfonfident spend and reinvest in the economy. >> i feel like i'm teaching first grade here. what do you think tom donahue does for a living? representing american business. he gets republicans elected to office, business and the republican party are the same thing like labor and the democrats. >> that's crazy. >> business wants republicans to win the election. business wants that to happen. >> chris, we need -- >> spending tons of money to have that happen. i don't know how you deny the obvious. >> where were they in 2008? >> they had a weak candidate. they didn't believe in. a business supported barack obama, yeah, right. >> they were. >> tom donahue -- >> let me ask you a strategy question. steve, let me get you into this. a strategic question.

is it enough for mitt romney to say the economy's bad, barack obama has not been a good president or does he have to put out an alternative, is there a rule that's different for the challenger than the incumbent? >> look the campaign has a long way to go until november and he has to put out on alternative vision of how to manage the economy and be president. and you know we're going to real choices, see debates between these guys and who has a better vision for america. mitt romney's going to have to say, how is he going to manage the economy? what's he going to do different than what barack obama's done? it's a vastly improved economy than what barack obama inherited. he's made great progress but more progress needs to be made. >> we'll have you stand by. tony, steve, chris, we are waiting for the president. we have not yet gotten the two-meant warning. he was scheduled at 10:15. he'll make a statement on the economy and jobs and we believe we'll take questions. we'll have live for you right here on msnbc.s of w farm...99 bushels of wheat! ♪

[ male announcer ] kellogg's® mini-wheats cereal has 8 layers of whole grain fiber... so they stick with you. ♪ 45 bushels of wheat on the farm. 45 bushels of wheat! ♪ all morning long. there's a big breakfast... [ mini ] yeehaw! in those fun little biscuits. i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure,

or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biolog medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you can't create a retirement plan based on ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a predetermined script. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we actually take the time to listen - ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 to understand you and your goals... ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so together we can find real-life answers for your ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 real-life retirement. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and let's write a script based on your life story. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550

[ male announcer ] they were born to climb... born to leap, born to stalk, and born to pounce. to understand why, we journeyed to africa, where their wild ancestor was born. there we discovered that cats, no matter where they are... are born to be cats. and shouldn't your cat be who he was born to be? discover your cat's true nature. purina one. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

we are back live, waiting for the president to come to the podium. he has a statement to make, and then we believe he may take some questions at the white house. we are talking about it with chris matthews, of course the hoet of "hardball" tony fratto, steve elmendorf with us. if we buy into your philosophy the president needs to do something big and bold, is there essentially a cut-off, does he have to do it now? does he have to do it by the conventions, by october? >> i'm told the president's going to lay out his -- grand strategy for the second term at convention in charlotte. i think that's a little late but it might be the right time do it in terms when people pay attention. i think he can signal his long-term planning by what he's doing and what he has done. he has to grab control of the narrative. when he ran for president the story of barack obama's life was the story of his campaign. how a guy from a mixes background like his, exotic

background with an african father, had been able to go through the ivy league, become head of the harvard law review, become a united states senator from illinois, his story was itself the american story. that was enough. this time, the story of his re-election has to be the story of how his first term is a preview of coming attractions of the second term. and he has to say, here what happens we did -- here's how it worked, here's why. and that's what -- those are the models i'm going to use for the second term. government has to take action. the government did take action to save the auto industry, to save the country from economic financial collapse effectively, not perfectly. but we did begin to rebuild our health care system, which was broken. he here's what we've done for adult children who would like to see them covers, people with preexisting conditions. he has to remind people what he did, why it worked. he has to say here's what i'm having a problem with. the republicans aren't going

along with what i'm trying to do. they don't want it to work. what i need, this summer i'd like to see a big road construction jobs bill, during the building season, during the road building time of year, let's get out and fix those highways and do it well, bridges, everything, put 5 million people to work, 3 million, whatever. but they don't want to put anybody to work. whether he takes the boxer bill or his own bill, get something out there as big as possible and let them say no. my problem so far, he's offering them spam, the old kind of spam in the can, and they're say nothing to spam. why not ask for steak. if they say no to spam in the can ask for steak because they're going to say no to either one. the biggest mistake so far asking for small stuff and they've been able to reject small stuff with no pain. offering big the american people can get their mind around, excited about, 3 million, 5 million people to work, roads built, the country put back in

shape and when the republicans say no from here to november it's heard by the vote somewhere that's his problem. this stuffs -- i'm not going to use that p word -- but it's a problem. >> is he right, the proposals that congress is not acting on are not big enough to get the people excited? >> ooh think he's got a lot of good proposals in front of congress. the problem is he has a congress that doesn't want to do anything. the congress decided it wants him to lose the election. he has got to go out and make the case how he's trying to move the country forward and the people, the republicans who run the house of representatives are keeping him from doing the right thing, to move the economy forward. i think he's doing a very good job of that. that's what today's press conference is going to be about, he's got a to-do list and they have a chance to do the to-do list. congress should be next week working. they're going away for another week. >> we've talked about how gui divided the country is. depending who you look at, seven or nine states, the

battlegrounds, the smallest number we've had at this point in the campaign, when you look at the independents in those states do they look at congress and looking at an approval rating as low as 10% in the last several months i think it's at 15 now, do they look at congress and say republicans are obstructionists? >> i find this republican obstructionist story just really, it's fantasy. i mean if you think about this, this has been one of the singularly most successful administrations in terms of legislative accomplishments in all of history. the economy that we're dealing with today is the obama economy. we're dealing with -- >> what was mitch mcconnell? the republican senate leader. what hus wis numbhis number one legislative priority when obama got elected? to get obama defeated. >> which policy in the first three years? you know which policy in the first three years of this administration has not been

accomplished? >> all i know -- >> tax increases. >> they've votes down the line against everything he's try toed do. the motive, destroy the guy politically. >> they didn't stop anything except tack increases. >> except all of the jobs programs on the table now. >> steve's right. they've got a lot on the table and these guys say no to everything, everything. >> they would do nothing for the economy today. >> that's your philosophy. >> the economy today -- in three years -- chris, which policy -- >> they do not wait for business to do the job has been rejected by the american people if they accept la day fair that's their mistake. >> which policy did the republicans block? >> every jobs bill on the table. >> which policy did republicans block? >> talk to mike, the other people standing in the way of the jobs bill. >> they've blocked tax increa increases, that's it. >> barbara boxer is fighting -- it. >> it will get done.

>> we're getting a yea here. >> it will not create jobs this year. it wouldn't make a difference in the economy we're dealing with today. >> your party's doing its best to stop everything it company you are the roadblock party. the other party's the highway party. name me economic policy of the first three years of the administration that the republicans blocked. >> we have -- >> every attempt to try to have tax fairness has been rejected by the republican. >> tax increases, i get it. >> no, not tax increases, tax fairness. the same tax rates that clinton had in the '90 that's you guys would -- >> no, you don't. no you don't. all of them? all of them? are you advocating for all of bill clinton's tax increases? >> not for the very rich. the top 1%. >> i'm sorry you said -- but that was the land of milk and honey. we had the clinton tax rates. >> you're asking a question. what has been rejected by the republican congress? all of the jobs bills on the table, all proposals for tax

fairness. everything to re-establish an american democracy in economic terms which is, an opportunity for the middle class to actually grow in their hopes and in their life, and number two, fairness across the board, and, three, real economic expansion led by the government, because it's the only one of the three, consumer investor or government, that's alive right now. the others are holding back. >> i'm having a hard time keeping track of democratic economic leaders including the president himself who have blocked those tax increases. >> if you -- if you -- if you focus and keep up you'll be on top of this issue. >> let me tell you they've put the president's remark on the podium. we've not gotten the two-minute warning. >> you don't pay attention. >> this is part two. you've mentioned about looking how this plays into the campaign. one is what will the proposals be? what will barack obama, what will mitt romney put forward? but it's also about the

president, steve elmendorf, talking about the things he has accomplishes, talking about saving the auto industry, talking about health care, people may be divided about health care but ask them about the specifics do you want your 24-year-old, 25-year-old college student to be on your policy? that they want. talk about bin laden, has the campaign, has the president done a good enough job about talking about what he has accomplished? >> yeah, i think they're doing a very good job. there's a long way until november and lot will happen between now and then. i think barack obama on the economy and foreign policy and defense has a terrific record. and e-i think it's interesting, republicans are conceding his leadership on foreign policy which was a weakness of democrats and that's a positive going into the election. again, i think he needs to lay out what he's going to do in the second term. we have five months until the election. first he's got to lay out what he wants to do between now and the election to show the american people he's working every day to make the economy better while the republicans in congress are stopping him.

>> is that really part of what works? chris, let me go back to you, not about the specifics of it but as a strategy, congress, whether or not congress is obstructionists, whether or not the republicans in the house are not moving? do you think it helps him to say that or do the american people say, but what are you doing? >> new york i think they want to know that he has a plan. harry truman's a great model back in '48, 1:00 in the morning on a 95 degree temperature, no air-conditioning in philadelphia, everybody thought he'd get killed in election '48. he was finished. he went out and brought the congress back into session, i it's time for you to do what you promised. let's get going here. i think obama has the skills to bring the focus on the do nothing congress, because everybody pretty much hates congress right now. i don't think congress has ever been at level it's at now if

terms of low public esteem. if he were to turn the hose on these men and women and say they don't do anything, steve's right, they take vacations. they come back and stand around and do boring little things. i don't know what they do. they pass the suspension things that aren't going to do anything and they're abusing that calendar. so i think if the public listens to that but he's got to do two things when he gets to charlotte or sooner what i'm going to do, what i've done, how it leads to what i'm going to do, what they're going to do isn't going to take us back no anywhere but where we were before how we got in the hole. if you like the hole we were in in 2008 and '9, if you like that experience of a country coming apart, we know who to give it to you because, and this is fair, mitt romney hasn't differ in one degree from what w. did. the same dunce cap leadership we had that took us into iraq. it's the same dunce cap leadership that took us into the

worst financial crisis since the late '20s. and he wanted to go back to that dunce cap thinking, fine. but he ought to tell us where he's not going to take us back to that. deregulation, tax cuts for the rich. the trouble with romney is, he's skating around, hoping the economy will fail, and i'm not holing it against him, that's how politics works, hoping it will fail so he can come in as the relief pitcher that's the entire romney strategy. that's what it is. it may work if the economy tanks, look, we know what will happen if the up employment rate climbs above 8.5, it's romney's election, that's a fact. he'll be able to say i didn't do this but the fact is his policies will be exactly the same policies as w.'s, again, a dunce cap policy of deregulation, let anybody on wall street do what they feel like doing today and same tax cuts for the rich. it's the same fiphilosophy that got us where obama had to pull us out. they used to say to addicts, an

addict is doing the same thing expecting a different result. few you do the same thing w. did and the neocons that took us into iraq, if you want to go back with that thinking, vote for romney because he says that was smart. he thinks romney -- think about this if you will -- romney thinks that w. was smart. jesus. >> we should say, there are a couple of recent polls -- >> even for a right wing guy to say that. >> there are recent polls that bear out that george w.'s the least popular living former president and also that a large number of independents out there blame what's going on with the economy at least in large part on the policies of the years. so the polls would bear that out to some point. we have gotten the two-minute warning probably about a minute ago. so we're expecting the president to come out. this comes at a time obviously that there's a lot going on in the world, obviously jobs and the economy, the situation in syria. we expect him to talk about

congress, it's something that has been a theme for him. talking about bills to get jobs, to get the economy moving. all of those things, obviously, we are expecting if there are questions and we are expecting a few questions from the president. but initially, there will be a statement by the president, we expect to focus on the economy. in addition to that, it comings a day after those new fund-raising numbers for the campaigns in which we got a record amount of money in may for barack obama, $60 million along with the dnc but bested by romney and the rnc, $76.8 million. chris matthews, what's the one question you would ask the president? >> what are you going to do -- >> here's the president of the united states. >> i didn't have my chance. >> i just want to say a few words about the economy and then i will take some of your questions. today, we're fighting back from the deepest economic crisis since the great depression.

after losing jobs for 25 months in a row, our businesses have now created jobs for 27 months in a row, 4.3 million new jobs in all. the fact is, job growth in this recovery's been stronger than in the one following the last recession a decade ago. but the hole we have to fill is much deeper and the global aftershocks are much greater. and that's why we've got to keep on pressing with actions that further strengthen the economy. right now one concern is europe, which faces a threat of renewed recession as countries deal with a financial crisis. obviously this matters to us because europe is our largest economic trading partner, if there's less demand for our products in places like paris or madrid, it could mean less businesses or less business for manufacturers in places like pittsburgh or marc. there's a path out 0 the

challenge. they understand the seriousness of the situation and the urgent need to act. i have been in frequent contact with them over the past several weeks and we know that there's specific steps they can take right now to prevent the situation there from getting worse. in the short term, they've got to stabilize their financial system and part is taking clear action as soon as possible to inject capital into weak backs. just as important, leaders can lay out a framework and a vision for a stronger eurozone, including deeper collaboration on budgets and banking policy. getting there is going to take some time but showing the political commitment to share the benefits and responsibilities of an integrated europe will be a strong step. with respect to greece, which has important elections next weekend, we've said that it it is in everybody's interest for greece to remain in the eurozone while respecting its commitments to reform.

we recognize the sacrifices that the greek people have made, and european leaders understand the need to provide support if the greek people choose to remain in the europe euro zone but the greek people need to recognize that their hardships will likely be worse if they choose to exit from the eurozone. over the longer term, even as european countries with large debt burden. s carry out necessary fiscal reforms they've got to promote economic growth and job creation. some countries have discovers, it's a lot harder to reign in deficits and debt if your economy's not growing. it's a positive thing the conversation's moved into that direction, leaders are working to put in place a growth agenda along side responsible fiscal plans. the bottom line is, the solutions to these problems are hard but there are solutions. the decisions required are tough, but europe has the capacity to make them.

and they have america's support. their success is good for us and the sooner that they act and the more decisive and concrete their action, the sooner people and markets will regain confidence and the cheaper the costs of cleanup will be down the road. in the meantime, given the signs of weakness in the world economy, not just in europe but also some softening in asia, it's critical that we take the actions we can to strengthen the american economy right now. last september i sent congress a detailed jobs plan full of the kind of bipartisan ideas that would have put more americans back to work. it had broad support from the american people, it was fully paid for. if congress had passed it in full we'd be on track to have a million more americans working this year. the unemployment rate would be lower. our economy would be stronger. of course, congress refused to

pass this jobs plan in full. they did act on a few parts of the bill, most significantly the payroll tax cut putting more money in every working person's paycheck right now, and i appreciate them taking that action. but they left most of the jobs plan just sitting there. and in light of the headwinds that we're facing right now i urge them to reconsider. because there are steps we can take right now to put more people back to work. they're not just my ideas, they're not just democratic ideas. they're ideas that independent, nonpartisan economists believe would make a real difference in our economy. keep in mind that the private sector has been hiring at a solid pace over the last 27 months. but one of the biggest weakne weaknesses has been state and local governments which laid off 450,000 americans. these are teachers and cops and firefighters, congress should pass a bill putting them back to work right now.

giving help to the states so that those lay-offs are not occurring. in addition, since the housing bubble burst we've got more than a million construction workers out of work. there's nothing fiscally responsible about waiting to fix your roof until it caves in. we've got a lot of defers maintenance in this country. we could be putting he a lot of people back to work rebuilding our roads, bridges, some of our schools. there's work to be done. there are workers to do it. let's put them back to work right now. the housing market is stabilizing and beginning to come back in many parts of country but there are millions of responsible homeowners who have done everything right but struggle to make ends meet. so as i talked about just a few weeks ago, let's pass a bill that gives them a chance to save an average of 3,000 a year by refinancing their mortgage and taking advantage of these historically low rates. that's something we can do now. it would make a difference. instead of talking a good game

of job creators, congress should give the small business owners that actually create most of the new jobs in america a tax break for hiring more workers. these are ideas that again, have gotten strong validation from independent, nonpartisan economists it would make a difference in our economy and there's no excuse for not passing these ideas. we know they can work. now if congress decides, despite all of that that they aren't going to do anything about this simply because it's an election year, then they should explain to the american people why. there's going to be plenty of time to debate our respective plans for the future. that's a debate i'm eager to have. but right now people in the town should be focuses on doing everything we can to keep our recovery going and keeping our country strong. and that requires some action on the part of congress. so i would urge them to take another look at some of the ideas that have already been put

forward. with that, i'm going to take a couple of questions and i'm going to start with karen boeing who is with reuters but as we know is about to go get a fancy job with national journal and we're very proud of her. so congratulations to you, karen. you get the first crack at it. >> thank you very much, mr. president. could you tell the american people what role the united states is playing in the european debt crisis? and also, do you think european leaders have a handle on what's needed to stem the crisis? and finally, you talked about a number of ideas that you've already put forth to shield the american economy. do you plan to give a speech or lay out additional ideas now that the crisis is really escalating? >> well, a couple of things. first of all, the situation in europe is not simply a debt crisis. you've got some countries like greece that gone u winly have spent more than they're bringing in, and they've got problems.

there are other countries that actually were running a surplus and had fairly responsible fiscal policies but had weaknesses similar to what happened here with respect to their housing market and that has weakens their financial system. there are a bun. of different issues going on in europe. it's not simply a debt crisis. what is true is, is that the markets getting nervous have started making i it much more expensive for them to borrow. and that then gets them on the downward spiral. we have been in constant contact with europe over the last -- european leaders over the last two years. and you know we have consulted with them, both at the head of government and head of state level, i frequently speak to the leaders not only at formal settings like the g-8 but also

on the telephone or via video conference, and our economic teams have gone over there to consult. as i have said in my opening remarks, the challenges they face are solvable. right now their focus has to be on strengthening their overall banking system, much in the same way that we did back in 2009 and 2010. making a series of decisive actions that get people confidence that the banking system is solid, that capital requirements are being met, that various stresses that may be out there can be absorbed by the system. and i think that european leaders are in discussions about that and they're moving in the right direction. in addition, they're going to have to look at how do they achieve growth at the same time

as they're carrying out structural reforms that may take two or three or five years to fully accomplish. so, countries like spain and italy, for example, have embarks on smart structural reforms that everybody thinks are necessary, everything from tax collection to labor markets to a whole host of different issues, but they've got to have the time and the space for those steps to succeed. and if they are just cutting and cutting and cutting and their unemployment rate is going up and up and up, and people are pulling back further from spending money because they're feeling a lot of pressure, ironically that could actually make it harder for them to carry out some of these reforms over the long term. so i think there's discussion now about in addition to sensible ways to deal with debt and government finances, there's a parallel discussion that's

taking place among european leaders to figure out how do we also encourage growth and show flexibility to allow some of these reforms to really take root. now keep in mind that this obviously can have a potential impact on us because europe's our largest trading partner. the good news is, is that a lot of the work we did back in 2009 and 2010 have put our financial system on a much more solid footing. our insistence of increasing capital requirements for banks means that they can absorb some of the shocks that might come from across the atlantic. you know, folks in the financial sector have been monitoring this carefully and i think are prepared for a range of contingencies. but even if we weren't directly hit in the sense that our financial system still stays

solid, if europe goes into a recession that means we're selling fewer goods, fewer services, and that is going to have some impact on the pace of our recovery. so we want to do everything we can to make sure that we are supportive of what european leaders are talking about, ultimately it is the decision that they've got to make in terms of how they move forward towards more integration, how they move forward in terms of accommodating needs for both reform and growth. the most important thing i think we can do is make sure that we continue to have a strong, robust recovery. so the steps that i've outlined are the ones that are needed. we've got a couple of sectors in our economy that are still weak. overall the private sector has been doing a good job creating jobs. we've seen record profits in the

corporate sector. the big challenge we have in our economy right now is state and local government hiring has been going in the wrong direction. you've seen teacher lay-offs, police officers, cops, firefighters being laid off, and the other sector's that still weaks the construction industry. those two areas we've directly addressed with our jobs plan. the problem is that it requires congress to take action and we're going to keep pushing them to see if they can move in that direction. okay? jackie collins. where did jackie go? there she is. >> thank you mr. president. i'd like to ask you a couple -- what other people have said about europe, one is that i'd like to know if you agree with the former president bill clinton who said, in the past week, that the europeans' policies that you've described here today are much like those of the republicans in this

country, politics about austerity that would take us in the same direction as europe, if you agree with that. the republicans, for their part have said you're simply blaming the europeans for problems that have been caused by your own policies. so i'd like you to respond to both of those. and also tell us precisely how much time you personally spend on european situation. >> any other aspects to the question? >> i do have more questions. >> the -- first of all in terms of the amount of time i spend, look, i think it's fair to say that over the last two years i'm in consistent discussions with european leadership and consistent discussions with my economic team. this is one of the things that's changed in the world economy over the last two or three

decades, is that, you know, this is a global economy now and what happens anywhere in the world can have an impact here in the united states, certainly that's true after the kind of trauma that we saw in 2008 and 2009. and you know, if you think about the situation in europe, they're going through a lot of things that we went through back in 2009 and 2010, where we took some decisive action. the challenge they have they've got 17 governments that have to coordinate. 27 if you count then tire european union, not just the eurozone. so imagine dealing with 17 congresses instead of just one. that makes things more challenging. but you know, what we've tried to do is to be constructive, to not frame this as us skoeling them or teming them what to do

but give them advice based on our experiences here and having stabilized a financial situation effectively. and you know ultimately they'll have to make a lot of these decisions. so what we can do is prod,ed advise, suggest but ultimately they have to make these decisions. in terms of characterizing the situation over there, what is absolutely true, this is true in europe and it's true here in the united states, is that we've got short-term problems and long-term problems. and the short-term problems are how do we put people back to work? how do we make the economy grow as rapidly as possible? how do we ensure that the

recovery gains momentum? because if we do those things, not only is it good for the people who find work, not only is it good for family whose are able to pay the bills, but it actually is one of the most important things we can do to reduce deficits and debt. it's a lot easier to deal with deficits and debt if you're growing, because you're bringing if more revenue and you're not spending as much because people don't need unemployment insurance as much, they don't need other programs that are providing support to people in need, because things are going pretty good. that's true here in the united states and that's true in europe. so the problem, i think president clinton identified, is that if when an economy is still weak and a recovery is still

fragile, that you resort to a strategy of let's cut more so that you're seeing government lay-offs, reductions in government spending, severe cutbacks in major investments that help the economy grow over the long term. if you're doing all of those things at the same time as consumers are pulling back because they're trying to pay off credit card debt and there's generally weak demand in the economy as a whole, you can get on a downward spiral where everybody's pulling back at seam time that weakens demand and that further crimps the desire of companies to hire more people. and that's the pattern that europe is in danger of getting into. you know, some countries in europe right now have an

unemployment rate of 15%, 20%. if you are engaging in too much austerity too quickly, and that unemployment rate goes up to 20% or 25%, then that actually makes it harder to then pay off your debts. and the markets, by the way, respond in -- when they see this downward spiral happening they start making a calculation if you're not growing if you're contracting you may end up having more trouble to pay us off so we charge you more, your interest rates go up and it makes it that much tougher. so you know i think that what we want both for ourselves, but what we've advised in europe as well is a strategy that says, let's do everything we can to grow now even as we lock in a lo long-term plan to stabilize our